1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a control apparatus, a control system and a control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known various systems that automatically lend articles. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H04-000882 discloses an automatic warehouse including a stationary shelf having many compartments and a movable body movable on a side surface of the stationary shelf. The movable body moves along the side surface of the stationary shelf to transfer articles stored in the compartments. In this automatic warehouse, two windows, which are a carry-out counter and a return counter, are provided on the side part of the stationary shelf. When an article to be stored is placed on the return counter, data of the compartment in which the article is to be stored is sent to and stored in a control apparatus. After completion of carrying-out a predetermined number of stored articles, a return signal is sent to the movable body based on the data stored in the control apparatus so as to return the article on the return counter to a predetermined storage room.
Moreover, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H10-320636 discloses an automatic lending facility equipped with a lending apparatus. The lending apparatus automatically lends an article stored in a storage part in response to a lending request, and automatically stores an article, which is returned in response to a return request, in the storage part. The automatic lending facility sets a time period from a time of lending an article until a reference unit time has passed as a return time corresponding to a lending fee.
In a warehouse managing articles for lending, it is desired to manage articles while strictly keeping the rule of the FIFO so that no deviation occurs in lending frequency between individuals of each article.